In a landmark decision the Turkish parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty.
Though considered one of the most controversial of a wide-ranging package of laws currently being studied by parliament in its efforts to bring Turkey in line with European Union norms, the final voting was clear. Out of 419 deputies present, 256 voted for abolition and 162 against. There was one abstention.
The new law still makes an exception for capital crimes committed "in time of war or immediate threat of war". But it means that Abdullah Ocalan, former leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) condemned to death in 1999 after 15 years of what the Turks term "low-intensity conflict" in the south-east, is off the hook. "He'll be taking a deep breath now, in the knowledge that he's destined to a lifetime in jail rather than the gallows," said one source in Ankara.
With abolition of the death penalty one of the criteria for admission to the EU, Turkey now has one less reason to be rejected at this December's Copenhagen summit on enlargement.
Describing the decision as "very encouraging", British MEP Ms Sarah Ludford said it was "the first real opening towards a real political dialogue with the Kurds and a political solution to the Kurdish problem". Mr Kerim Yildiz of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project disagrees.
"Like the rest of the reform package, today's decision is an attempt to please the EU rather than to push through real reforms for the establishment of the rule of law in Turkey." Nobody has been executed in Turkey since 1984 and it is doubtful anybody would have been even if parliament had voted against abolition. For Turks, the death penalty and Kurdish issues are almost synonymous. More than 30,000 people died during the 15 year conflict in the Turkish south east, and memories of atrocities on both sides are still vivid. In the nationalist climate following his capture in 1999, PKK leader Mr Ocalan was demonised by the press. Calls for his execution are the core policy of the largest party in Turkey's present government, the ultra-right wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP).
Though nobody was surprised when the MHP's 126 deputies voted against abolition in yesterday's parliament, the decision of more than half of Turkey's moderate Islamic party, AKP, to join them raised a fair few eyebrows.
AKP leader Mr Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly pledged his party's support for all measures improving Turkey's chances of EU accession. In reality, his deputies have played a more cunning game. Their decision to oppose the bill on the grounds that it is a legal rather than a constitutional amendment is seen by many here as mere politicking. "The AKP shares the same conservative Anatolian constituency as the MHP," says a source in Ankara, "and doesn't want to lose votes to them." Other observers think Mr Erdogan may have miscalculated. Though his party currently tops polls with around 25 per cent of the vote, polls also show that half of Turkey's voters are still unsure where their loyalties lie. It is possible they will not look kindly on AKP's attempts to stall the country's move towards Europe.